Illegal downloaders to get pro bono advice

by
Samantha Woodhill |
20 May 2015

iiNet is working to reach an agreement with a law firm to provide pro bono services to customers that illegally downloaded the film Dallas Buyers Club. The name of the law firm will not be disclosed until the agreement has been finalised, an iiNet spokesperson told Australasian Lawyer.

iiNet’s announcement follows the Federal Court’s ruling that the internet provider must hand over the names and addresses of downloaders to Voltage Pictures, owner of the movie rights. The company said it would inform customers if their information was released to Voltage as a result of the court’s orders, The Australian reported yesterday.

A statement posted on the telco’s blog earlier this week stated that while the Federal Court had ordered that iiNet’s customer information be handed over to Voltage Pictures, Justice Perram put in place a number of safeguards so that customers cannot be unfairly targeted.

“We don’t support or condone copyright infringement but we couldn’t sit by and have our customers potentially bullied by the process of speculative invoicing,” the blog post said. “If you do receive a letter you may want to get legal advice. iiNet is working with a law firm that has offered to provide pro-bono services for any of our customers. More details will be provided when agreement is reached on that front.”